Lunar Reign
by Spirituality
Summary: 'Vegetarian' vampires don't exist, not even the admist the kind, humble Cullens. Bella's blood still sings, however. But when it comes to Edward, this sweet ambrosia can be her biggest downfall or..her greatest weapon. Major Au. ExJ, ExB.
1. Chapter 1

**There is really no reason why I should be posting this since I can't even guarantee I can (or even will) continue. Plus, I'm kind of scared as shit to what you guys will think. Especially my old fans. Just dusting away some cobwebs and trying a new thing, I guess. Oh, well. :-)**

_**Prologue**_

It could have been the movement of the wind. The rustle of the sixteen million, three hundred thousand forty two leaves when they danced with the breeze, each screeching and harmonizing the same melody. Or perhaps it was the moon. High in the sky—unreachably high— full and beautiful as a lover's lips, glowing in its splendid incandescence, mocking, laughing. Humming in joyous praise, reveling in the solidarity of being the only object I couldn't reach, couldn't taint with my infallible hands. It guffawed alongside the wind because it unearthed the verity of being the only witness to my slipping sanity, yet the wrath of a million men in my hands were rendered useless. On its pale, expansive surface, I could make out one hundred and twenty seven craters. Yet and still, I was so far away. So incapable of contact.

My Isabella was the moon.

The sun would be envious of the way its reflection sparkled against the crimson water.

"I watched you kill her."

Bella; it must have been her. In my entire two hundred and fifty seven—fifty eight?—years of living, my superior rationale only advanced me closer to futility when it came to her. The lithe way she stood with the breeze, wilting and swaying, blending with the mourning willows as if she were a mere backdrop to the perfect decor of the forest floor. Her knees, knobby and protruding against the pale stems of her legs held steady (well, as could be, for a human) as granite boulders. Ghost's fingers held in front of her, clasping in prayer for support. I nearly scoffed aloud. The thought of Bella Swan needing the likes of assistance from anyone besides herself was almost comical—the best joke I had ever heard.

Massive amounts of chocolate mahogany curls billowed leisurely in time with her frame, frail and delicate like a newly blossomed flower. The snap of my fingers, the blink of my eyes, the slightest flex of my jaw, and her soul would exist no more. Her impending demise, a rigid pollution to the oxygen we shared. Her disposition, however, spoke volumes of her lack of fear, her lack of proper reasoning.

Although it was the depths of her eyes in to which I delved the deepest. Liquid color rippled and thrashed like an angry sea against the contours of her face, drowning her accusations, doubts, and questions. A violent storm that passed reluctantly, displeased with its destruction.

Bella was like a dream, if I ever knew one. Her petite visage easily overshadowed the scarlet stained blades of prairie, morphing the slaughter into a masterpiece that rivaled O'Keefe, Da Vinci. Her aura radiated in magnitudes and I found my vampire self whole heartedly convinced that torn, disclaimed pieces of flesh could pass as beautiful strips of confetti, or streamers. The sugary tang of adrenaline was still soaking the taste buds of my tongue. In the background, a foreign mouth lay agape in perpetual terror, a soundless cry that went unnoticed and unheard. I could easily become deaf to anything but the song of her blood, the intensity of her _power_.

"You drank her blood. I saw you." If dreams were possible, mine would be filled with draining those lips.

I could hear the insects whispering to one another, the dirt crumbling beneath the pressure of gravity, the slow, torturous sound of decomposition of flesh. The growing of her hair from her scalp along with the permanent stillness of mine were like insistent children, tugging at my ears with their contrast. The wet '_Slap! Slap!'_ of Bella's heart against her ribcage permeated every sound wave that was capable of reaching my inner ear, shattering any feeble thoughts of coherency I had somehow managed to retain.

And still, silence reigned.

If this had been anything less than the gates of fate that had been laid before us, I would have reveled at the familiar gleam of intuition in her eyes. Perhaps also the modest smirk on her lips when one of her many suspicions—she seemed to conjure _so many_—had been solved. She would have ran her skeleton fingers—not graceful at all in their structure— through the river that is her hair, down the nape of her neck to rest upon her long, frail collarbone. Here, she would have drummed them—_th-thump, th-thump—_ as if giving herself a subtle applause for her findings. I paused for a mile-long moment to wait for the gesture that never came. Her digits were motionless, endlessly praying. Loathing warred inside of me.

My snarl was amplified against the glass tension. "Will you run?"

My eyes—that could see a signature from two miles away—failed to find a falter in her sway. Listless, almost, in her pattern. "As if I could." She was right.

"I can make death fast for you." I could grant her that pleasure, perhaps.

My doubts were staggering in their intensity.

A lethargic nod, a slight twitch of the lips. Her gaze flickered to the crimson water. Swaying, swaying. Left, right, left.

Her laugh, though malicious, was still ringing bells. "But you won't, will you?"

Insects continued to gossip, the leaves continued to croon their lullaby raising and falling in pitch, the earth continuing to cave to pressure. The river continued to rush, imitating veins in its hue, and high above, the moon—ever vigilant—made a song out of its own laughter.

**Like it? Want more? Ready for the dark spice? Now, **_**that**_** I'm good at. Reviews inspire me. Gracias.**

_Spirit_


	2. Chapter 2

**_One_ review for the prologue? Okay, I know. Some people would take the hint and just give. Fuck that, I'm rubbing my hands together and taking another shot at this. My first year of college and I'm gonna need a nice distraction for the long hours in the campus café. **

**Thanks by the way, Muggle Minx, for being my first reviewer, haha. Hope you stay with me! **

**Critique away. I'm all ears..Or eyes, whatever. Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: This ain't mine. Haha.**

**Capitulo Uno**

The first time my cursed eyes lay upon Isabella Marie Swan, I was suddenly aware of two things.

My already stone body became even more erect—each fiber of every muscle and ligament—stood to attention. I could have easily crushed her with my mountainous lust alone. I would kiss every inch of her hot skin, running my tongue over every pore and crevice she had to offer, slurping up her sweet nectar with no hesitance. I wanted to bury myself to the hilt in her until we became one—an _entity_—and she cried out my name in all the octaves her beautiful voice could manage. I conjured images of her atop me, riding and roaring like the beast I could see behind her eyes. Underneath me, writhing and begging, _pleading_ that I would give her more; that I would _break her._

And the second—of which I was unsure of everything but its bare and raw _truth_—someday she would die by my hands. I could (still can) in that instance name every way I wanted to watch the life drain from her eyes. The world was falling away, and I was overcome by wishes, fantasies, _visions_.

Crushing in one final blow as I came inside her, teeth impaling her heart and draining it until there was no use for it any longer.

Smashing her skull in a searing kiss that would render her mouth a fountain of ecstasy that I would lap and savor long after it was dry.

Every thought was a varying version of the other, become more gruesome as the seconds quickly rolled along.

Her blood, you see, was heaven. Heroin intensified, purified, liquefied, and so easily within my each. Every answer to any inquiry, every need fulfilled, every desire freely satiated lay inside the substance roaring through her fragile, paper thin veins. Hell roared to life in my throat, and I would have done anything—unimaginable and the like— to have it for myself.

And the moment her eyes first fell upon mine, wide and intense in their wisdom like a bottomless well, I could have sworn I told her everything aloud. She had smiled, and I could feel myself plummeting. She would very much die by my hands, yes, of that I was sure.

If I didn't die by hers first.

"Edward! Psst, Edward!"

Mike had been annoying me more and more as of late. I would have liked to have taken his head off his shoulders and speared it on the school flag pole, if he didn't cease calling my name—or referring to me at _all,_ for that matter— very soon. While some humans had a natural aversion to their greatest predators, there were always the select few who were prone to idiocy. But in the middle of a class lecture, no less! Had he no shame?

I didn't waste my time answering.

"Hey, Edward! Edward! Dude, I know you're not fucking deaf!" The idiot was barely bothering to conceal his voice now, "Get your head outta your ass! Edward!"

My muscles tensed as the venom in my body simmered heatedly. Saw dust from the desk lodged underneath my fingernails and the muscles in my legs rippled in anticipation. Anger was sweeping through me. It wouldn't be long now. _I'm going to murder—_

An animalistic hiss resonated in my ears then. It was low and feral, like the warning of a rattle snake whose home had just been invaded. If a human had so happened to hear the infinitesimal sound, it could have easily been overlooked as static on a television or something of similar degree. But I knew well enough otherwise. To my ears, it was a warning.

'_You will do no such thing!_' I heard an echo of Alice's voice surround the air around me. That couldn't have been even slightly detected by the humans, however. She spoke aloud so rapidly from three classrooms down that interpretation would have been like decoding an ancient language backwards. Though, I had the misfortune of hearing her as clear as day.

Still coiled with anger, my brain shifted its proceedings. It appears my vehemence in Mike's death triggered a precognition in Alice's gifted mind. I held back a scoff in defiance because I felt no remorse. My seer of a sister had just prolonged the boy's life, not saved it.

"I think Mike was calling you, Edward." A timid voice whispered from the side.

Angela, the only mild tempered human I dared to give words to. "I know."

She paused for a moment, contemplating my frigid answer. By no means were we 'friends', but I saw no reason to extend my usual rudeness in order to ignore her. After brief speculation, all her intentions seemed genuine and honest, rare traits in the supremacy of humans. Not even a monster would dare damage her feelings.

"He either wanted one of two things—" She paused to peer over at me. I raised an eyebrow for her benefit, not caring in the least degree.

"To copy your homework or," She drawled, "To ask about the new girl."

I wanted to scoff aloud at the insignificance of either subject. Never would I assist in helping an imbecile like Michael Newton succeed in life or waste an inkling of brain space acknowledging an extra human who would be just like all the rest.

"I could honestly care less what he wants." I said loud enough for both Angela and Mike to hear.

Amidst her laugh and his venomous glare, I sighed and received no relief. High school was purgatory indeed.

It was haven to slide into the drivers' seat of my car at the end of the day. Thunder rumbled overhead as I blasted the heater, stripping my jacket and tossing it into the back seat. It reeked of Forks High School. Not that I would ever wear it again anyway, if my fashion craved sister had anything to say about it.

I was followed shortly after by Jasper as well as Alice, and before the teenage fools could build up a traffic jam that would last much too long for my daily human quota, I sped from the parking lot of hell.

"Smells like burnt dog in here." Mutter Jasper, shrugging off his own jacket and tossing it atop mine. I chuckled.

Fat droplets of water pelted the wind shield as I pulled onto the highway, the dreary clouds that had been hovering all day finally deciding to make use of themselves. The wipers lay unmoving, much like they always had. Carlisle would disapprove, but I didn't bring myself to care. They were more of a burden than a help, anyway.

My index finger moved to my iris, pressing firmly against the thin veil of contact lens there. There was a very light pressure, and then I could hear the low gurgle as my venomous eyes disintegrated my feeble disguise. I swiftly did the same to the other, not blinking. I looked up to see if my brother had already done the same. He was always the first to rid himself of the annoying guise.

With his eyes still a burgundy type brown and brow furrowed in a worried manner, I quickly surmised that an impending explosion was to happen in the next few seconds.

The speedometer inched to eighty.

"What were you _thinking_?" Her voice like bells, chimed with venom in my ears. I resisted the urge to wince.

"You must give Jasper reprieve, dear sister," I stated calmly, glancing quickly in the rearview at my forlorn brother. His face was twisted and wrinkled now, fighting off my sister's rage.

I felt sympathy for him on many occasions. To have the gift of experiencing others' emotions couldn't have been something pleasant to be bestowed with in this afterlife, of sorts. Especially since us vampires felt so passionately and strongly with every emotion. To be able to manipulate them would give reprove, but Alice was never easily deterred. I could feel his calm being suffocated by her annoyance.

"You would have _killed a human_," She hissed, ignoring my attempt to deter her. My askance was one of disbelief, and she quickly rerouted her tirade. "We would have had to kill the entire school to protect out cover."

A frown tugged at my face as Jasper projected her sudden bloodlust along with his own. My hands gripped the wheel, the leather squeaking in protest. "Let's not act as if this is such a horrid thing, Alice. There could have actually been some enjoyment from it."

I was suddenly aware that the trees would have been a blur of mashed color to lesser eyes, and slightly eased my foot of the gas. Sheets of rain splattered the earth around us, the sky darkening with the oncoming storm. Embers began to tickle my throat.

"Yes. But, brother, you know what happens to those who don't utilize control," She murmured, leaning back with closed eyes. If we could shiver, we would have been sharing one. That was something neither of us wanted to think about.

Her hand reached back to stroke Jasper's own. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm just a little thirsty; I'll try and be calmer next time."

Relief and love quickly replaced the burn in my throat with as close to nausea as we could get.

"I don't need to hear your apology, my darlin'. My feelings are only reflections of yours." His southern drawl responded and she sighed happily in turn. If possible, the intensity of their affection doubled to nearly suffocating.

The squish of wet earth was a relief as I pulled up into the long, narrow driveway of our home. I didn't know how much longer I had before they started singing love sonnets to each other.

"Get out, before I become the first vampire on record to regurgitate."

Alice stuck her tongue out at me and Jasper offered a small chuckle before they both materialized from the car and into the house. I breathed through my nose slowly, glad to have the air clear of nothing but my own emotions. Being around those two was like war zone on the inside of my skull. Not to mention their homely feelings for each other in such close proximities was a little more than uncomfortable. In the hundred and eighteen years of living with Alice and Jasper, never did that waver.

Collecting my props for school, I exited the car and bounded up the steps, dodging as many raindrops as possible by habit. By the time I had reached the door, I was pelted with fifteen. Our record was nine, held strong by my burly brother Emmett.

I threw everything to the floor as I glided at a more leisurely place to the kitchen. I smiled ruefully at the normalcy of a teenager going straight to the kitchen after a day of school. Here, I spotted Esme with blueprints laid out in a massive abundance all over the island in the center of the kitchen. Her honey brown hair was pulled into bun atop her head, scarlet eyes piercing the pages in concentration.

"Hello, mother." I said, bending to place my lips on her cool, inhuman cheek.

"Why, hello, my son." She murmured, laying her hand upon the side of my head affectionately, though not averting her eyes from her work. Without thinking probably, she began to stroke the hair there in slow, soothing motions. I could perfectly understand a cat's need to purr under such attention. The warmth and love she radiated (without the help of Jasper) was welcoming and relaxing. With not many memories of my biological mother, Esme was the closest and best thing I could have asked for. I knew I didn't deserve such an angel, but was glad that whatever sick being controlled this life placed her in my eternal life nonetheless. "How was school?"

Alice danced gracefully down the stairs, buoyant as ever in her chipper attitude. I became slightly annoyed at her interference. "Edward killed a boy today, Esme."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and I couldn't help but notice her lack of proper reaction to this news. She glanced up at Alice in question. "Did he now?"

"_Almost_, mother." I corrected quickly, feeling suddenly guilt that Alice had blabbed to Esme about my near loss of control. "She's exaggerating her visions, like always." I glared at her, and she beamed in return.

"Tsk, tsk," Esme laughed lightly, "You musn't tease each other so much. Lose your temper again, Edward?"

I was really embarrassed now. My anger was a constant burden to Esme's worries. The destruction it had brought in the past should have had me burned to pieces long ago. My family didn't take such things lightly, however, and of course I was thoroughly punished. And though sometimes their reprimand was painful, it remained merciful by a long shot.

I went to respond when Alice turned quickly and spoke towards the upper level of our home, "Yes, Carlisle?"

He appeared at the foot of the stairs then, a small smile alighted on his handsome face. His blonde hair was slightly askew, as if he had been running his hands through it for the majority of the day.

"You're not working the hospital tonight?" I asked, curious. He didn't smell of human and antiseptic like he usually did after his shifts.

His ruddy red eyes shifted to me. "No, son, not tonight. Alice," He addressed again, "Do me a favor, will you?"

The little pixie's eyebrows furrowed in return, dread quickly falling onto her face. "Oh, no."

It actually surprised me the way Jasper materialized beside her in the next instant. He grasped her shoulders in unnecessary support. "What is it?"

"Just as I feared," Carlisle responded, rubbing his chin in thought. He exchanged a knowing glance with Esme as he glided to her side, clasping her hand in his. Her work lay forgotten while Jasper and I awaited answers. "I was just about to ask Alcie to take a look into our plans tonight."

"Our futures are gone."

We both froze at once. My entire body went into overdrive, and I had to resist the urge to crouch in preparation for the impending danger. Alice's visions never failed, so it could mean one of two things, neither which were pleasant.

"Does this mean—" Jasper began, gathering his bearings quicker than I. We seemed to be fighting twin urges, however. Alice's face was a still portrait of despair and worry.

"You mustn't fret, however." Calisle said soothingly, "Tonight, the moon will just disappear for a few hours."

Jasper and I melted into a more proper stance, though much still guarded. When Alice's visions of our futures disappeared, horrible things were more likely to happen. Such a large coven as ours fearing the unknown seemed ludicrous since we relied on our Alice so heavily. Nothing had ever happened, but time was endless, and so were its possibilities. This would likely be a few hours spent on high alert and suspicion.

Her face twisted into one of infuriation as she threw her hands into the air. "Of all the ridiculous things! After hundreds of years of practice!"

Jasper tried in vain to calm the enraged vampire, but with very little luck. If the situation hadn't been so dire, I would have found them humorous.

Though Alice had half a century over my two hundred years, her age was hardly one of ancient records. I held my tongue on that, however. I could partially empathize with her aggravation.

Carlisle rubbed his forehead slowly, barely moving the granite skin there as if in deep contemplation. "The town is having a public viewing—everyone will probably attend."

I wondered idly why he was mentioning this. Our safety seemed more imminent at that moment, not the recreation of the pitiful people of Forks, Washington. Word of them was barely ever uttered in this house, outside subjects of hunting. "What—"

"It'd be in our best interest to attend." The moment we all went to protest is when his kind eyes quickly turned sharp, leveling a glare upon each of us. The contrast was staggering. "I will hear no arguments. It will begin at nine. All of you will accompany Esme and I."

I looked to her for affirmation, hoping that I would find some resistance in her, too. I saw no such thing, however, as her hand squeezed that of Carlisle's in a gesture of, again, unnecessary support.

Our weakest night and we would spend it with a myriad of _humans_? The asininity was incomprehensible.

My growls echoed that of my siblings.

The storm that plagued earlier passed much faster than any of us would have liked. The entire town had ventured from the rat invested homes filled with gossip and adultery to witness what I would call a less than wondrous event. They poured from their doors and into the streets, murmuring excitedly amongst each other. It was a shame they were so easily riled. As I sat on the roof, legs dangling off the sides, I could feel the electricity of the town five miles away being powered down. Street lamps dimmed, house and store lights cut off, all in ridiculous preparation.

The air twisted around me in its limitless facets, smelling of stale greenery and the coming of autumn. The trees and I watched warily as they huddled together in a grassy clearing that was farther than casual walking distance into the woods (pathetic that it was large enough to hold them all), their mouth and eyes agape as they peered into the sky. A bunch of chicken, all of them. If I were lucky, it would rain, and they would all drown.

I was no such thing, however.

Carlisle further demanded that we join them, insistent that their proximity to our home would raise suspicion if we didn't blend in nicely and act the part of idiotic humans. Though he made a weakly valid point, it was Rosalie in particular who had not been happy to hear this.

From the thick pane of glass that made up our roof, we were perfectly capable of watching from the confines of our home, I had argued. Alice whined, her petulant lips poking out in a childish pout as her face, dipped and patterned to look like angelic demon, twisted unhappily. In our century and some odd years of living together, we had never known why it was that Alice's visions ceased to show around the same time as a weird galactic occurrence, like a comet or solar eclipse, but there was nothing that could make the 4'11 pixie anymore upset than loss of one of her senses. If she had to choose, I knew her supernatural talent would be the very last on the list to surrender.

But alas, Carlisle would hear none of it. Secretly, I believed his unrelenting resolve that we blend in resulted from his urge to be human again, something he hadn't been for almost five hundred years. I cursed his ridiculous yearning with a passion. It was the reason we had to endure that hellish school every overcast day that plagued this horrible little city.

"Bunch of smelly animals they are. Do I really have to deal with this?" My sister Rosalie commented, being ushered out the door by an enormous Emmett who hid a smile and rubbed her back gently. If Alice was the angel of hell, than Rose was had to have been Satan herself. I could guarantee never before had anyone witnessed a wicked, consuming beauty that could even begin to rival that of hers. Men, vampire and human alike, fell to her in worship. And like a bird knew its nest, Rose knew her vain excellence. She was the originator, root of all splendid loveliness in Greek mythology and everything of the like.

All fell on deaf ears, however, and maneuvering like ghosts through the forest, too soon did we silently materialize on the border of the crowd of excited Forks' townspeople. Some had brought chairs and coolers. A few kids were throwing a football back in forth, younger ones chasing their peers merrily.

It was sort of comical to watch, no matter how many times it occurred, the reactions of humans when we presented ourselves. In singularity, lack of bodily functions like breathing and speaking were most common. A case of heart failure or two had even happened. But when we emerged as a group—one as large as our seven—near panic erupted. Carlisle should have known better.

"Do you see their _hair? _All of them! Must cost a fortune.." A woman said who I recognized as the wife of the town's butcher.

"..so _gorgeous_! How much plastic surgery do you think.." Another woman awed, a frequent at the local bar.

"..bunch of freaks, if you ask me. How do you even get that pale.." A girl from our school, Jessica Stanley.

My muscles tensed in unison with my siblings. How _annoying_ they could be! Their petty gossip and stupid assumptions were maddening, in the least. It was a mystery how or why Carlisle endured it. I'd love to make a feast of all of them myself. The burning in my throat agreed, reminding me that I hadn't fed in weeks.

If we attacked now, not a soul would be the wiser. It would be quick and I could guarantee with our enhanced speed and strength multiplied by our sheer numbers, breaking the necks of the five hundred and forty eight people here would be quick and lethal. I could hear the rushing of venom in my companions' veins. They knew it, too. It would be a frenzy. Sucking dry each person before our previous one even hit the ground. My throat burned with glee. We would move on, leaving Forks an empty, desolate town. Sure Esme would be upset, this was her favorite place to live—and we had only just moved in a few months prior— but satiated wouldn't even begin to describe our thirst for destruction and death after a massacre so _magnificent_. The imbeciles wouldn't have even seen it coming.

"Calm!" Carlisle hissed, low enough for only our ears to hear. His hand tightened on Esme's, her own eyes widened as she fed off the anticipation we bred in the air.

I wasn't the only one that hesitated for a moment before, one by one, we slowly melted into a proper stance, muttering indecencies and defiances.

"Shh, it's almost time!" a voice cried. And much like we had previously done, everyone came to an accumulative calm.

Silence fell like a blanket as the level of anticipation grew to a vast level. It seemed as if even the trees stilled in their movements to watch the earth eclipse the sun from the moon and shroud the world into blackness. My mind reeled at the possibilities of a pure black night with a field full of humans. My throat burst on cue into hot flames that licked at my trachea. A ragged breath escaped me, and soon there was a cool hand encasing my wrist in what seemed like prevention.

However, a sheet of tranquility crawled from the skin to skin contact, lithely entwining itself with the very atoms that composed my existence. I relaxed exponentially, a breath of air escaping me in remnants of my blood lust.

"Thank you, brother."

"No problem." His hand slid from my wrist and into Alice's awaiting hand where she placed a kiss on his cheek in reward.

I was too serene to feel sick.

A giggle erupted.

Even if the humans' volume had risen to a deafening sound; I would have heard that laugh. Sweet wind chimes on a warm summer's breeze, the flapping of an angel's wings. I was compelled to believe I would recognize it from across the entire globe.

It was _beautiful_.

I could feel without even knowing its owner, the sound was a striking symphony to my ears. And only in that moment, had my body become unfrozen. My insides shifted, stone moving for the first time in centuries. My chest suddenly felt heavy, head floating towards the darkening moon.

In the vivid contortion of my memory, I seemed to know her before her eyes entrapped in mine for that first time. Heart shaped face, long, wavy brown hair streaked with red and blues that only eyes of our magnitude could see. _Beautiful._ Small frame with soft curves, height just barely passing my shoulders. One hand lowering from the most enticing mouth I had ever seen, the other entwined with another's. Big brown eyes shone vividly, a projector to every thought that passed her mind. My body had shifted, and I couldn't seem to remember anything ever being relevant before that moment.

I wanted her. I wanted her _now_.

I heard tendons tighten upon her fingers and wildly, my eyes ripped away from her and flew to the owner.

Only one word came to mind: Intruder.

Tall, burly, and ivory skinned, with tussled, short, black hair and shoulders twice my own in width. He wasn't Emmett, but next to her, he looked massive.

He must die.

His dark, ruddy eyes met mine and I could tell we shared the same revelation for each other, his for whatever asinine reason. Mine, because he was touching what I had just deemed _mine. _Our gazes didn't falter. I could smell the blood in his veins, could hear the beat of his heart. Something was off, but he was human. A kill that would be all too easy.

Peculiarly, however, his eyebrows shot up in surprise as he stared at me. Slowly, his coal eyes began to rake down the line of my family, taking us all in individually, from Esme's rounded shape to Jasper's lean, muscled body. He looked as if he were soaking something in, memorizing our faces as realization slowly settled into his eyes. This befuddled me, and I was becoming maddened with the idea of killing him.

The angel tugged on his hand, not like a petulant child, but like an owner yanking on the leash of her pet, and quickly gained his attention.

The way their gazes locked had a growl ripping through my throat. What I saw pass between them—the look of deep understanding and affection—nearly set me off the edge. Harbor feelings for someone else, will you, angel? Possessiveness overtook me. I'd show them both.

Her eyes flickered to mine just as the sky faded to black. A smile was still placed on her face, and unable to help myself, I smiled back.

And oh heavens above, she blushed.

The greatest wine, the most enticing gourmet buffet, a field of the most voluptuous flowers did not—_couldn't possibly_—compare to what was brought to the surface of her beautiful face. The face I absolutely _had_ to tear apart and drink what lay beneath.

I could _feel_ the pupils of my eyes restricting, and there, in the middle of every resident in the city of Forks, amidst the inky blackness that would effect me none in the least, I pounced.

The musical sound of crunching bones resonated in unison with my snarls as bodies were shoved violently out of the way. Rivulets of blood reflected in the darkness as they splashed onto dirt and clothes faster than the humans could finish gasping at the sight high above the sky. Twisted arms, broken collarbones and smashed ribs all felt the same to me. Like styrofoam, they crumbled beneath my powerful hands, though my mind could only focus on a sole thing. Not her undeniable beauty or even the insolent creature who dared stand as a companion by her side. No, it was the fire, a million times more consuming than I had ever felt it, eating and burning my body to its core, desperately reaching out for the one thing that would satiate it.

Her blood.

Her widened hues struck me just as vividly as if it were daytime. This was only instance I could actually recall her succumbing to her terror.

A shrill scream erupted.

But it wasn't hers.

_Why won't you scream?_ I wondered as I advanced, prowling like the predator towards her, _Why can't I hear you cry out for me?_

The dark amusement swimming amongst her fear was enough to make me hesitate for a split second. But it was enough, and I instantly regretted it.

My family was on me in that heightened moment, stone hands much stronger than my own latching onto my limbs like steel clamps. My muscles flexed fruitlessly under their frightening pressure.

"Sorry, bro," I heard someone mutter (Emmett, perhaps?), before their grips tightened impossibly and I had a but a mere second to brace myself, though I knew my efforts would prove useless. The metal sound of my body being ripped apart filled my own ears. Even as pain exploded like atom bombs from every inch of my being, in the closest corner of my mind, I still burned and ached for a simple taste.

I remember screams echoed in the air, confusion and fear quickly turning the field into a battle zone of chaos. But I distinctly recall, through the thick mass of all my nerve endings setting off, not hearing the chime of bells shrilly crying out like every other pale comparison had done upon simple human reaction.

She was immovable stone while a blinded mass frenzy scattered about her frame. Her serenity was staggering, compelling. Wide, bright eyes followed until the forest swallowed us in one last gulp.

In that moment, I made a solemn vow. If I had to scour every inhabitable inch that covered the Earth, I would find her again.

And next time, I would hear her scream.

**You'll notice that Edward has no mind tricks in this story. Boo-hoo. It hurt for me to let them go, too. And also, their drastic and violent tendencies will be further explained, you can stop cringing now. There will definitely be a JPOV, too, but a BPOV? I don't know. I've always liked it when Bella was a mystery. But we'll see. I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly! Don't be afraid! Let me know what you think!**

**Let's give this review thing another go, shall we? Ready, set..:-)**

_Spirit_


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